


oh what there was (in the oldest of days and ages and times)

by kaminagi



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Original Work, Rapunzel (Fairy Tale), Robin Hood (Traditional), Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne | East of the Sun and West of the Moon
Genre: 3 Sentence Ficathon, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-03-13 10:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13568913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaminagi/pseuds/kaminagi
Summary: In the long-distant days of yore, there was and there was not, stories to be told...Originally forcaramelsilver's 3 sentence ficathon.





	1. the princess in the tower (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any fandom (or original), any characters or pairings, the princess in the tower](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=4798642#t4798642)_.

It's after the prince begins his visits, with his gifts of pretty ribbons and random books from his castle, that she peers outside her tower and it occurs to her that _he is climbing up her hair from the ground upward_.

For all his honeyed words of love and escape and tiny scraps of silk to weave into a ladder, he never suggested cutting her own hair so she could climb down it herself and she's furious to realize he probably knew this.

She knows the world is vastly different and much more difficult than the charmed life she's had, but she still shears her hair, gathers her clothes, her books, her food, and the ribbons, and climbs out the tower so she can live a life of her own choosing ( _to Mother Gothel, she leaves a note, because at least she made no false promises of another life, but the prince can fend for himself against her godmother's rage_ ).


	2. the princess in the tower (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any fandom (or original), any characters or pairings, the princess in the tower](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=4798642#t4798642)_.

It annoys the princess tremendously when everyone keeps telling her to focus on her embroidery and to improve her lute playing (not that there was anything _wrong_ with embroidery or music, admittedly) when all she wants to do is study her astronomy books.

Nobody else shares her interest, so she retreats to the highest tower of the castle with a telescope, an astrolabe, and all the star atlases in the royal library, where she can study unperturbed but sadly alone.

When a new royal scholar shyly takes notice of the constellations she's embroidered on her cloak and compliments the accuracy of the map, she's delighted to find someone who shares her love of the stars at last.


	3. living on the edge of the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any fandom (or original), any characters or pairings, living on the edge of the world](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=4799666#t4799666)_.

He is taken to live in a place called despair, located east of the sun and west of the moon, where he is cursed to marry the troll princess.

He comforts himself with memories of the lass who was brave enough to give him hope, until it was snatched away in a single moment of doubt that had come far too soon, never to see her again.

Or so he believes - against all odds, she finds him at the edge of the world, her eyes still bright and her spirit undaunted by hardship, and he feels joy at last from knowing that she will be the one who will save them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the Norwegian fairy tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." I really like the illustrated version by P.J. Lynch, and the novel length adaptation, _Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow_ , by Jessica Day George. _East_ by Edith Pattou was interesting, but I wasn't a fan at all of _Ice_ by Sarah Beth Durst.


	4. You'll fall like a guillotine/and kneel before the queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Robin Hood legend, Maid Marian, You'll fall like a guillotine/and kneel before the queen](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=4803762#t4803762)_.

So this is how he will lose his head, Gisbourne thinks bitterly, not at the hands of a man who refuses to follow their ways, to grovel and know his place is that of a dog's, but at the hands of that hateful man's faithful lover, a delicate looking creature.

"I'm not merciful like he is and nobody here will say any prayers for you," she says with cold unyielding eyes and he finds he cannot move his beaten body from the cobblestones of the cloister and wonders if he made a mistake thinking she was weak (but she's a _woman_ , he argues uselessly with himself, since when has a woman been an actual _threat?_ )

The sword slices down without hesitation, clean through his neck, and his last thought is _woe be the fools who dare cross Maid Marian_.


	5. fairy gifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any fairy tale, any, fairy gifts](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5243867#t5243867)_.

The rule is there is always only one "evil" fairy to curse princesses and a fairy godmother to fix it (a prince and true love and kisses, standard stuff).

Cobweb has gotten really good at the curses ("So she's been gifted with beauty, and I curse her so her beauty is so great, she will never know true love and men will go to war for her" being example of her work) and her cackle is second to none, so she's completely stumped when the king and queen pull a fast one and name her newborn princess's godmother right after Cobweb thought she dropped the finest loophole-free curse yet.

"So," she says awkwardly as the royalty shuffle their feet unregally and other fairies look unnerved, "could someone call the royal lawyer while I think of some way to include how true love will get the princess out of this some day?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest - I had way too much fun writing this one. Cobweb is named after one of the fairies in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ , so she could have easily been Moth or Mustardseed or Peaseblossom instead.


	6. I'm not afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any fairy tale, any, I'm not afraid](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5614299#t5614299)_.

"Look," the princess says, as she twirls the silver paper knife in her left hand, "we all know how this will go - I'm going to get a little cut with this exact knife at noon today, and everyone in the castle will sleep indefinitely until a kiss of true love wakes me, that's how it going to work."

The young scholar has doubts about her honestly foolproof plan (even it's fairy godmother-approved and tested, bramble and woodbine free, but watch out for those roses that are going to spring up from almost no where), so he can't help but ask her if she's afraid.

"Nonsense, perhaps lacking in princely titles, but I know my true love is right here," she smiles at him (and he just blushes to his toes), "now be a dear and stand outside the castle - wouldn't want you to fall asleep too, or who else going to wake me up?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha... it was supposed to be "briar and woodbine" free, because of book called _The Girl in the Golden Bower_ by Jane Yolen. Oops.


	7. 'cause when you find yourself a villain in the story you have written it's plain to see

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[fairytales, any, 'cause when you find yourself a villain in the story you have written it's plain to see](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=5854532#t5854532)_

He's a Prince - the most handsome, the most fearless, the unquestionably strongest - he tells himself this every day when he looks in the mirror, puts on his shining armour and flashes his sword, before he mounts his stallion to ride off and save the beautiful princess of a neighbouring kingdom from a dragon.

"The destroyer of our history, daring to think I need saving," the damsel (not in any distress, to the prince's shock) rages upon seeing him, "incinerate him!"

The dragon sighs (huffs, really) a torrent of flames, but the Prince wonders if the shame of being a villain hurts more than the fire.


	8. great

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[great](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=5898820#t5898820)_

"When I ascend the throne," the princess says dreamily, "I want to be remembered as the 'Great.'"

The young scholar wracks his brain, thinking that he needs to dissuade her (his future sovereign, who is prone to dropping completely unsubtle hints of her intention to propose to him someday) with other controversial rulers from the Enlightenment period with the same epithet and that she's getting far too ahead of herself.

"Of course, to achieve this, I need to focus on subjects beyond natural history, astronomy, and philosophy - we need start concentrating on administration, taxation, and the prosecution of war to round out my knowledge of politics and statecraft, not to mention social and economic theory," she goes on (ignoring him as usual), "and of course, as my future consort, you must be prepared as well, best to start with small charitable projects and moving you up to becoming the chancellor of the royal university, hey, are you listening?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually a misfire – probably a bot, not an actually prompt. I just had to be silly about this and treat this as an unintended prompt.


	9. arranged marriage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any, Any, arranged marriage](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=5965380#t5965380)_

"Oh, good, you're here," the princess says, "I need some help sorting your personal income documents and filling in some spots regarding your lineage about three generations back, I might have missed your great-grandmother's third daughter, the one who inherited the obscure earldom."

The young scholar has a sinking feeling in his stomach (all he wanted was the star atlas that was under the piles of books on royal law, instead he finds his princess looking fiercely determined and his heart flutters a little), but still he asks her why.

"I need to arrange my own marriage to you before the prime minister gets it into his head that I need to marry some big-headed blue blooded dullard with wealth and political connections who thinks that he's going to be the king just because he's my husband and do whatever he likes to this country," she says, rolling her eyes, "don't look at me all aghast, I'll make sure the proposal is very romantic."


End file.
